Too speedy. The pace is indeed so insistently frenetic, and the camerawork so agitated, that we cannot begin to appreciate, even if we can begin to comprehend, the moves and countermoves aboard a hijacked Caribbean cruise liner. The lone hijacker, and the last word in disgruntled ex-employees (Willem Dafoe), gives new meaning to the concept of "computer wizard. " A true magician, he appears to be able to produce any calamity anywhere on the vessel with only a flutter of fingerwork at his portable keyboard, and the spectator has to take it all on faith. In the resulting confusion, there is less opportunity than before -- than when stuck at the steering wheel of a city bus -- for Sandra Bullock to be adorable, especially because the defection of Keanu Reeves (the proverbial rat abandoning a sinking ship) requires that every spare moment be spent on establishing the adorability of his replacement, Jason Patric: fearless in the pursuit of his SWAT duties; speechless in the presentation of an engagement ring; chatting fluently in sign with a friendless deaf girl. And speaking of adorability, there is, for those keeping track, the de rigueur dog in the midst of disaster, an unterrified terrier yapping in annoyance at the runaway ship as it chews through a hundred yards of oceanfront property. Less wow than bowwow. Directed (as before) by Jan De Bont. (1997) — Duncan Shepherd
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